Michael Toscano: The False Idol of Technology

"It's a beautiful life that we could be living in each moment, but what many of us decide to do is to drown ourselves in false electronic contentment," said Michael Toscano, executive director of the Institute for Family Studies. In his new First Things article "Recovering our Memory" Michael writes, "It became quickly apparent to me that smartphones and social media were beginning to subject the people around me—smart, disciplined, hard-working people—to a profound change. They were more hunched over, prone to glancing at the device during conversations, and scrolling. Always scrolling." 

Michael is a leader in efforts nationwide to adopt laws to make technology safer for kids. He has written on family policy, tech policy, the uses of technology to reshape work, and the effect of technological change on America's republican form of government. His writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The New York Post, First Things, Compact, The American Conservative, National Review, and elsewhere. Under his leadership, IFS has more than doubled its annual budget and quadrupled its research output. He is co-author with Peter Wood of "What Does Bowdoin Teach? How a Liberal Arts College Shapes Students" (2013).

Follow Michael and his work at the Institute for Family Studies at https://ifstudies.org